BOARD DELAYS DECISION ON BOROUGH SCHOOL

SANDY LOUEY; Courant Staff WriterTHE HARTFORD COURANT

The school board talked Monday night with worried parents, then delayed a decision on how to fix ceilings at the Borough School.

Board members said they want time to receive a structural analysis report and test the building's paint for lead. The delay will allow time to receive information that the board needs to make a well-informed decision, school board member Tom Callahan said.

"We'll go from there," school board Chairman Fred Dion said. The board scheduled a July 25 special meeting to re-examine the issue.

A plaster ceiling collapsed in a Borough School classroom a month ago. The two main floors of the school were closed because the same structural deficiency was discovered in other classrooms.

Monday's meeting drew 35 people, many of them parents and staff from the Borough School. They heard structural engineer Robert Dawson of Russell & Dawson in East Hartford outline two options for repairing the ceilings.

"We found it's a serious, serious situation," Dawson said.

Replacing all the ceilings in the 62-year-old school would take five months and cost about $247,000, he said. The other option, refastening ceilings with screws and lagbolts, would take about five weeks and cost about $69,000, he said.

The threaded bolts can hold up to 130 pounds, compared with the 30-pound capacity of the nails now holding up the ceilings, Dawson said.

Dawson said either alternative would make the building safe.

"They're both permanent solutions," he said.

He said the structural analysis report will be ready by July 25 and the results of the lead paint test should be done within a week.

But parents in the audience questioned how long the repairs would hold and raised other safety issues.

Colleen Wood, whose daughter will be in the second grade at Borough School in the fall, said she plans to send her to another elementary school if the school board decides to go with the second option.

"I don't feel comfortable with this," Wood said. "I don't feel safe."

School Superintendent Wayne Senecal said a contingency plan has been developed in case the Borough School will not be ready by the start of school.